Envelop.



v Patented' .PM l0, |992.-

A. F. CALLAHAN.

ENVELUP.

Y' (Application med nec. 9, `1901.) (No Model.)

InvEnrz Ameruzus F Callahan.

A omega.

UNITED STA'TES ENvELoP.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 701,839, vdated June10, 1902.

Y VApplicationfiled December 9. 1901. Serial No. 85.117. (No model.)

To all whom may concern'.-

Be it known that 1, AMERICUs F. CALLA- HAN, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Chicago, in the county` of ',Cook and State ofIllinois, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement inEnvelops, (Case No. 1,) of which the following isa full, clear, conoise,and exact descriptiom reference being had to the accompanying drawings,forming a part of this specification.

My inventionrelates to envelops, and has for its object the provisionofmeans whereby labor and expense in addressing envelops and placing otherinsignia thereupon may be avoided.

I have devised an improved envelop or inclosing device which is adaptedto act in its primary capacity of securely inclosing and sealing thecontents of the envelop and in the added capacity of revealing so muchof the inclosure as may enable the observer to ascertain the destinationof the same.

Generally speaking,my invention comprises a composite envelop made up ingreater part of material that is preferably so thick or opaque as toprevent an inspection of the en= velops contents and completed bytransparent material so located as to reveal inscriptions upon theinclosure. To this end the obverse side of the envelop is provided witha section of transparent material-as, for eX- ample, very thinrice-paper-through which the sending address upon the inclosure may bereadily observed, the address being so placed upon the inclosure as toregister With this transparent section of the envelop.- The cornerportion of the obverse side of the envelop where the return address andthe like usually appear may also be formed of thin transparent material,so that the return address may be printed upon the letter-head andshovvr through the envelop to thus take the place of the return addressusually printed upon the outside of the envelop. By the term sendingaddress I mean the address to which the envelop, with its inclosure, isto be delivered. By the term return address I mean the address of thesender that has usually been printed heretofore on the corner of theenvelop. The balance of the obverse side of the envelop is preferablymade of the same substance as the reverse or back side of the envelop,so that none of the inclosure may be observed except that Which appearsat the transparent sections. Thus am I enabled to produce an envelopwhich serves in its primary capacity of securely containing an inclosureand concealing those parts of the inclosure that it is not desirable tohave accessible to the general public, While at the same time theinclosure may be so disposed as to reveal to the eye of, for example,the postal officials the address that may be properly located upon theinclosure to appear through the transparent address-section. In otherWords, the address occurring upon the letter, telegram, or othercommunication is the identical inscription that is presented through thetransparent section in the envelop. another aspect of my invention,therefore, it may be considered as comprising in its preferredembodiment the combination, with an inclosure bearing a communicationhaving a sending address upon the same side of the paper Where thecommunication appears, of an envelop provided With a transparent sending-address section, the sending address upon the communication and thesendingaddress transparent section of the envelop being both sorelatively placed and proportioned that the sending address only willappear through the sending-address section of the envelop, While thecommunication proper will be concealed 'by the more opaque portion ofthe envelop. It Will be seen that by means of my invention the grade ofmaterial of the envelop is not of importance as far as utility isconcerned. Paper Which is not adapted for penmanship or inscription ofother kinds may be used for envelops, as the addresses do not have to beinscribed on the paper thereof. Very thin colored paper, as Manilapaper, might thus be advantageously used for the comparatively opaqueportions of my envelop, as the color will prevent inspection of theenvelops contents. Very cheap Manila paper, in fact, is of specialutility in the practice of my invention. Other colored papers thanManila may be employed, or even black paper may be employed for theenvelops, black paper, in fact, presenting an advantage over papers of iother colors in that a striking contrast may PATENT OFFICE.

IOO

be provided between the address appearing through the envelop and the ofthe envelop. or

The many advantages oi vm f rmps constructedim accordance with n 'y Vbion will ne Very apparent. ln additi., lord-"ng the great expense inaddressing large quantities of envelops, as in large business houses,absolute accuracy is assured, as the sending address upon the inclosureand that appearing through the envelop obviously must be identical.

Many other advantages will present themselves to those acquainted withthe invention-as, for example, correspondence that may accumulate latein the evening of a business day may be rapidly mailed, the time andlabor ot' especially addressing envelops beingdispensed with, theinclosures only having to be placed in the envelops insuch a manner thatthe addresses will appear through the transparent sections. The deviceof my invention, of course, is not intended to be restricted to use inthe mails. For example, a very wide application of the invention can bemade with'great advantage to the telegraphservice, where the greatestaccuracy in correspondence between the address upon the telegram andthat upon the envelop is essential. As is well known, in largetelegraph-offices a corps of envelop-add'ressers is employed for sendingout telegrams, necessitating considerable delay in transmission. Byforming the envelops in composite sections of opaque and transparentmaterial the address upon the telegram may appear through thetransparent section, while the balance of the telegram that shouldremain secret is thoroughly concealed.

I will explain my invention more fully by reference to the accompanyingdrawings,illus trating the preferred embodiment thereof, in which-Figure l is a view of the reverse or back portion of the envelop. Fig. 2is a view of the obverse side or front of the envelop. Fig. 3 indicatesthe envelop shown in Fig. 2 with an inclosure. Fig. 4 is an enlargedsectional view onv line 4 4 of Fig. l. Fig. .5 is a view showing theinclosure unfolded, but with the folding-lines indicated. Fig. 6 is aview of the inclosure folded, ready for insertion within the envelop.Fig. 7 is an end view of the inclosure shown in Fig. 6, the folds beingslightly separated more clearly to illustrate the same. Fig. 8 is asideor lengthwise view of the inclosure as it appears in Fig. 6, the foldsbeing slightly separated more clearly to indicate their relation.

Like parts are indicated by similar characters of reference throughoutthe different figures.

The envelop a is formed of a material which is preferably largelyopaque, being preferably provided with aflap b, formed integrally withthe balance of the main envelop strucl' ture, whicl nap may be 'summedwhere the inclosure ik t0 be Saale@ The main structure of the .uvelopmay be provided with a slot, as indi(V ted at C, vfhifh slot is locatedat the usual. .platee where 15b@ sending address is to appear. '.Iheinclosure.-as, for example, the letter-head Z-g S0 -addressed, folded,and inclosed as to have the selldillg address 3D- pear where tlaeaddress-Blouin the main structure of the envelop is loctfd- Ill Oldl t0prevent the envelop from being torn at this slot and for the purpose ofpreventing impairment of the Original functions of the envelop, the slotin the main body Portion 0f the envelop'is covered by a Section e oftransparent material, as rice -papeig which may be found upon themarket. Other material obviously might be used in this same connection.

In order` that the d e'yi of my invention may be adaptable to enivelaplconstructed of different thicknesses' r and in order that thetransparent materid may lie as close to the inclosure as possi le moreclearly reveal the sending addre tenth, this transparent substance isdisuod uponthe interior of the envelop, as i ustrated in Figs l to 4. Ido not wish to be limited, however, in all embodiments of the inventionto this characteristic. Where the invention is also employed for thepurpose of avoiding the necessity of printing return addresses and thelike upon the exterior' of the envelop, the envelop is also providedwith a slot in the return-address corner or portion of the envelop, asindicated at f. The return address that is to appear' through theenvelop may be printed upon the upper left-hand corner of the inclosure,so that it may register with the transparent material appearing at theupper lefthand corner of the envelop, the two addresses appearing uponthe inclosure being so relatively placed that they will both properlyregister with the transparent material located at c andf.

The envelop inclosure d contains a communication that is suitably andregularly addressed, the communication being in the form of a letter,telegram, rbc. Fig. 5 of the drawings illustrates the body of thecommunication by short dotted lines. It will be observed from thedrawings that the address upon the inclosure bearing the communicationis so disposed with reference to the communication and that thesending-address slot is s0 disposed and proportioned with respect bothto the sending address upon the communication and the body of thecommunication that nothing but the sending address appears through thetransparent section of the envelop, the communication proper beingconcealed by the more opaque portions of the envelop.

Where two openings or slots are provided in the main body portion of theenvelop, I preferably place a single sheet of transpar- IOO IIO

ent material within the envelop, pasting the same closely upon the backsurface of the front envelop-section rather than provide separatesections of transparent material for each of these openings in the mainbody portion of the envelop. Where, however, but the one slot isprovided in the main body portion of the envelop, the size of thetrans'- parent material may be correspondingly reduced.

While I have herein shown and particularly described the preferredembodiment of my invention, it is obvious that changes may be madeWithout departing from the spirit thereof, and I do not,therefore,wishto be limited to the precise construction herein set forth; but,

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent- AMERICUS F. CALLAHAN.

Witnesses:

HARVEY L. I-IANsoN, GEORGE L. CRAGG.

